Oilers 3, Canucks 5

The good, the bad, the ugly, and the butt ugly, all encapsulated in a single headline. You’re not apt to find me in a good mood under any header that includes “Oilers beaten by Canucks”, even in September. Some poor hockey was on display in Vancouver on Wednesday, especially from the visiting Edmonites who stumbled and bumbled their way to a 5-3 defeat.

The outcome can immediately be forgotten — Vancouver and Edmonton remain tied with 0 points — with the major concern being the health or otherwise of Patrick Maroon. The burly left winger, one of the better Oilers in this sloppy affair, left the game with a leg injury midway through the third period after an awkward hit by Vancouver’s James Sheppard. Maroon’s status was unknown after the game, but it didn’t look good at all.

What also didn’t look good at all were the Oilers special teams, both of which stunk to high heaven. The Oilers had 10:49 on the powerplay compared to just 1:47 shorthanded, yet somehow were outshot 7-3 and outscored 3-1 on special teams. They scored a brutally efficient goal on a first-period 5-on-3, and otherwise couldn’t get out of their own way despite the repeated opportunities. Sure enough, after wasting several oppotunities with the man advantage a late game penalty led directly to Vancouver’s winning goal, and an even-later powerplay resulted in the empty-netter-against that sealed the deal.

One Oilers hopeful, Drake Caggiula, advanced his cause with two goals and some sharp play; several others, mainly on and behind the blueline, struggled mightily.

I am myself in pre-season form, so grades range from 3 to 7 (“poor” to “good”) leaving room for more emphatic opinions when the games start to matter.

#50 Jonas Gustavsson, 3. Seemed to be struggling to see the puck. Was beaten on a pair of outside shots into traffic, one in tight, and a wraparound where the referees somehow failed to notice the actual puck being in the actual net and simply whistled a stoppage in play. A couple of decent saves, but this showing did nothing to lift one’s confidence that the Monster will be the answer as Oilers #2. 17 shots, 14 saves, .824 Sv%.

Defence:

#8 Griffin Reinhart, 4. One of the more noticeable Oilers, and not always in a good way. On the positive side he did some solid defending in tight quarters, won some battles, and moved the puck north. One notable play involved excellent positioning and timing to box out an opponent camped out right on the doorstep despite Reinhart having lost his stick earlier in the sequence. Better, he scored the 3-3 goal in the last minute of the second on a good wrister from the slot. On the downside he was in the box for the first Vancouver goal after taking a careless puck-over-glass penalty, had a bad turnover that led to some extended Vancouver pressure, and was beaten to the outside on no fewer than three occasions by Joe LaBate, Alexis D’Aoust, and Derek Dorsett — not exactly household names. Whether it was misplaying the angles, misjudging the speed of the attacker, or bad turns, it’s a problem that needs to be fixed.

#25 Darnell Nurse, 5. He and Davidson were comfortably Oilers’ best pairing, with a solid shot differentail (+9/-4) to prove it. His best moment may have been a dead simple reverse pass to his partner behind the net that led to an uncontested breakout, a savvy vet kind of play. More, please.

#79 Dillon Simpson, 4. Was caught deep on the third Vancouver goal, although he didn’t get much support. Had a couple of issues switching off with his partner, Reinhart, on a night the Oilers ran six lefties on defence and paid for it a couple of times. Defended his own blueline nicely on a couple of occasions, and had a couple of decent shots from the point.

#84 Joey LaLeggia, 3. Not a good night for the would-be powerplay quarterback, who played 6:37 on the first unit during which time the Oilers were outshot (!) 3-1. Had his struggles behind his own blueline as well, where his small stature was an issue at times. His 22:17 led the defencemen, with the unequal split of powerplay opportunities being the reason.

#85 David Musil, 4. Basically invisible, which is not a bad thing for his player-type. Was fairly effective in puck battles in tight, and didn’t get noticeably burned. Not sure how much he advanced his cause.

#88 Brandon Davidson, 6. Earned an assist on Caggiula’s powerplay marker. Played over 16 minutes at evens, during which time Vancouver mustered just three shots. Looked comfortable playing on his wrong side with numerous crisp outlet passes. Might be the ideal partner to demonstrate the “less is more” principle to young Nurse. A puck recovery where he turned to shield the disc, absorbed the bodycheck, and easily moved the puck after the opponent bounced off of him being a fine example of the type.

Forwards:

#13 Kris Versteeg, 4. Had a couple of “heady veteran” type sequences, but his soft coverage at the offensive blueline after Simpson’s failed pinch was a big part of the problem on the third Canuck goal.

#14 Jordan Eberle, 4. Had team-high 9 shot attempts, including a one-timer off a splendid give-and-go with McDavid that found the inside of the post. Had some OK moments on the cycle, but played a team-high 7:25 on the PP and didn’t get much done.

#15 Tyler Pitlick, 5. Competent two-way game and one of the more physical Oilers with 3 hits.

#19 Patrick Maroon, 6. Made a fine play on Edmonton’s first goal when he crashed the boards to seal off a Ryan Miller clearing pass, then quickly centred to Caggiula on the doorstep for the finish. Made a couple of other sharp passes, including a beauty ten-footer inside his own zone which hit a streaking Caggiula right on the tape for an easy breakout with speed. Was one of the culprits on the third Vancouver goal when he lost either his man or the plot, I’m not sure which. The only thing that really matters is that he left the game with an injury, a tough blow for a guy who reportedly worked his butt off to get in excellent shape. Hopefully it’s minor but it sure didn’t look that way.

#27 Milan Lucic, 3. He had some nice moments early and then lost the plot. Had trouble passing the puck to his own teammates and was a big part of The Troubles on the powerplay. Had just one hit on a night Vancouver held a 34-19 edge in that rather questionable stat — but it was a booming one that rattled the boards about half a minute after Sheppard had run Maroon. Did show some smarts away from the puck, including one sequence when he rotated all the way around to cover for the right defenceman who had pinched. One of a few veterans who either knows it’s September, or who needs September to get his game together.

#36 Drake Caggiula, 7. Scored a pair of goals in the first period, one by arriving at the goal mouth at the perfect time, the other by snapping home an excellent shot from the top of the circle on one of the two competent sequences the powerplay had all game, this one a 5-on-3 that needed 23 seconds to set up Caggiula’s snipe. Took a wicked elbow later in the game and finished the night with a black eye. Led the team with 4 shots and to this point has shown a pleasing knack for getting a few looks every game. The day began with colleague Kurt Leavins’ cautionary tale likening Caggiula to Shawn Heaphy, and ended with Sportsnet hyperbolist John Garrett comparing him to Johnny Gaudreau. That’s, uhhh, quite a range.

#42 Anton Slepyshev, 5. One of the better Oilers forwards, he skated well, fired one good low shot on the rush and earned an assist on Reinhart’s goal. Tied for the team lead with 3 hits in just over 12 minutes. I docked him for some soft point coverage on the second Vancouver goal, though I’ll leave to the experts whether it was he, Pouliot, or both who messed up on that sequence.

#45 Taylor Beck, 5. Was credited with just one shot attempt, and a “missed shot” at that, but it was a rocket off the crossbar that can be filed under “promising”. The rest of his game didn’t make any imprint in my notes or on the official scoresheet either. He was one of the PKers scorched on the game winner.

#54 Jujhar Khaira, 5. …and Khaira was the other. JJ was the only Oiler to be victimized by both Vancouver PPG, which in 72 seconds of penalty killing left him with an even 100.0 PPGA/60 on the night. Tiny sample size, obviously, but not tiny enough. He was fine at evens, where in over 9 minutes of ice time he mustered 2 shots on net against just 1 for the entire Vancouver team. Had a nice pick and headman pass in the neutral zone, and started another three-way sequence with a fine outlet pass. Made a strong rush and shot in the seconds after Vancouver’s late goal. Had 3 hits to co-lead the Oilers, including a dandy open-ice dart that sent big Erik Gurbranson crashing to the ice. 5/8=63% on the dot. Lots of breadth to Khaira’s game, even as it’s still maturing.

#67 Benoit Pouliot, 3. His defining moment came in the last five minutes when he took a poor angle on the backcheck and did so aggressively enough to earn a rather senseless penalty. 17 seconds, 2 great chances, and 1 goal later it was game over. Plus ça change…

#70 Jere Sallinen, 5. His line (with Pouliot and Slepyshev) was guilty of poor coverage on the second Canucks’ goal, but in Sallinen’s case it may have been guilt by association. By eye he wasn’t that noticeable but his stat line — an assist, a shot, a hit, a takeaway, 9/14=64% on the dot — was respectable enough. His group did lose the possession battle.

#97 Connor McDavid, 6. Played 23:05 to lead the entire club, defencemen and all. 6:39 of that came on the ineffective powerplay, which had one flash of brilliance when McDavid set up Eberle for a drive off the post, recovered the rebound and fired a dangerous shot himself, then recovered that rebound and set up Lucic for a whack from the doorstep, all in about 5 seconds. Had a couple of other brilliant flashes, especially one double-dangle through a couple of blue sweaters that left the Vancouver crowd audibly gasping. Had 3 shots and passed up a couple of others for passes that didn’t quite click. 12/23=52% on the dot, one aspect of his game which bears watching this season.

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